ushernet Chapter 235 The Turning Point (1)
Chapter 235 The Turning Point (1)
Like any country, France had two main public opinions that divided like the Western political sphere into left and right.
The first was where the heart overcame the head.
Perhaps because the heat of war hadn't cooled yet, revenge burned stronger than fear, leading to the opinion that they needed to continuously beat Germany when they had the chance to prevent another war.
The other was where the cold head calmed the heart.
No matter how much they beat them up, eventually time would pass and the student would graduate, possibly returning to their alma mater with a sharply honed blade.
While politicians delicately navigated this precarious balance between rational restraint and instinctive retribution, trying to satisfy both camps, the French military establishment and right-wing factions had already planted their flag firmly in their chosen ground. They had made their decision with unwavering conviction, leaving little room for diplomatic nuance or moderate positions.
"We reduced it from 226 billion marks to 132 billion marks by half and they won't pay?"
"We've already lost our industrial zones and can't even provide pensions for veterans!"
"The factories stopped to pay with raw materials? Then we should search those factories to verify!"
From the moment the League of Nations, which was supposed to collect and distribute these reparations, became nominal, France intended to resolve the issue on their own.
When Poincaré's plan to impose economic sanctions with Britain was blocked, he immediately ordered military action.
"General Alphonse Caron. Take an infantry division right now and occupy the Saar region. And General de Gaulle."
"Yes, Marshal."
"Deploy troops to advance into the Rhineland and occupy the Ruhr."
Foch took action as soon as he received political permission.
So would occupying the Ruhr industrial region, Germany's heart, help France's economy?
Definitively, this would not help France's reconstruction.
The collapsed Ottoman Empire was reborn as a republic in exchange for transferring all strait sovereignty to Russia. Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire
Italy raised its youngest Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, who declared territorial expansion by advocating Spazio vitale, the origin of Lebensraum.
Britain had no time to look elsewhere with the Irish Civil War, control of Egypt, and Gandhi's resistance movement.
After the Ruhr occupation, Germany reached unprecedented hyperinflation, printing trillion-mark banknotes.
And I...
I had not yet intervened in this predictable flow of history.
Since the Empire survived the Great War, Russia had not projected power abroad except for organizing the Balkans.
This was natural, if natural. My chosen purpose was Pan-Slavism slightly expanded into national self-determination.
The Slavic peoples had already formed their sphere of influence, and we succeeded in playing king even in the Balkans through active internal interference.
With Pan-Slavism's foundation already complete, why would the Empire strive for further expansion?
"It was from '17, wasn't it? From the moment victory was certain that year, I've only thought about maintaining this country."
Looking back, it was undeniably a self-limiting thought, but truly back then I believed it was the best option.
Because I thought if we went one step beyond Pan-Slavism, the Empire would become the Soviet Union.
By becoming the Soviet Union here, I don't mean a revolution occurring.
It means the possibility of the Empire taking the position of the original timeline's Soviet Union the moment it touches non-Slavic peoples beyond the Slavs.
The Soviet Union - surrounded by enemies on all sides, playing only with its followers, that half-century of isolation, the nation with Cold War trauma. I had no intention of letting that history unfold.
"The Soviet Union began facing containment as soon as it demonstrated its power in World War II."
The reason the Soviet Union made enemies of the whole world wasn't because they were Reds.